Aeroplane-governor.



R. E. KBLLOGG.

AEROPLANE GOVERNOR.

, 1911. RENEWED NOV. 26,1013.

Patmm I #PPLIOATION FILED JULY 21 1,097,645.

RAY E. KELLOGG, OF LOS ANGIE-LES, CALIFORNIA.

AEROPLANE-GOVERNOR.

Application filed July 21,- 1911, Serial N0. 639,811.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 26, 1914.

Renewed November 25, 1913. Serial No. 803,035.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RAY E. KELLOGG, citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Aeroplane- Governors, of whic 1 the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in automatic governing devices, more particularly to devices of this character employed in aerial propulsion, and has for one of its objects to provide a simply constructed device for controlling and regulating the pitch or angle of the propeller blades 1n accordance wlth the speed or flight of the aeroplane whereby the air pressure upon the propeller blades is equalized in proportion with the centrifugal force.

The invention further consists in providing a mechanism of this character whereby the propeller blades are supported at one end only and whereby necessity for employing central shafts is obviated and the weight thereb decreased.

Wit1 these and other objects in view, as will more fully appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain constructions, arrangements and combinations of the parts that I shall hereinafter fully describe and claim.

For a full understanding of the: invent-ion, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of the driving shaft and the propeller blades of an aeroplane with the improved governing apparatus applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 1 with the motor shaft and the rigid governor arms in section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the governor mechanism with the blades in end elevation and in the initial position; Fig. 4 is a view similar toFig. 3 with the blades arranged to present their greatest surface to the atmosphere; Fig. 5 is a sectional detail illustrating a construction of the ball-bearing coupling between the blades and the governor mechamsm.

The improved device may be employed in connection with automatic governing devices of various kinds, but, as before stated, is more particularly designed for use in connect-ion with aeroplane mechanism, and for the urpose of illustration is shown thus appliec but it will be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited to aeroplanes, but may be adapted without mate rial structural changes to other forms of mechanism.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawing by the same reference characters.

In the drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention, 10 represents the motor driven propeller shaft of an aeroplane, the motor not being shown as it forms no part of the present invention. The shaft 10 will be supported for rotation in any suitable manner, but as the supporting mechanism forms no part of the present invention, it is not illustrated. Rigidly connected to the shaft 10 and rotative therewith, is a head 11 having bearing sleeves 12-13 extending therefrom from opposite sides.

The sleeve 12 is designed to receive a stub shaft 14 rigidly connected to a propeller blade 15, while the sleeve 13 is designed to receive a stub shaft 16 rigidly connected to a propeller blade 17. llhe stub shafts 14l16 are connected to their respective propeller blade near one edge of each as shown. At

its inner end the shaft 1st is provided with a rigidly connected arm 18, while a similar arm 19 is rigidly connected to the shaft 16. The arms 1819 thus move with the stub shafts and the propeller blades connected therewith. The arm 18 is provided at one end with an enlargement 20, while a similar enlargement 21 forms one terminal of the arm 19. The enlargement-s 2021 are formed with annular ball-receiving bearings or channels one of which is shown at 22 in Fig. 5, to receive balls 23 which bear against the adjacent face of the sleeve 12, while similar balls 24: are located between the enlargement'21 and the sleeve 13. 'By this means the end thrust of the shafts 14-16 are received by the balls and the friction thereby materially reduced. The stub shafts lei-16 are secured in any suitable manner, but preferably by clamp nuts indicated at 25-26.

Slidable upon the shaft 10 is a sleeve or collar 27 to which links 28-29 are 'pivotally coupled by studs 30-31. The links 28 -29 are offset at the ends next to the sleeve 27 as shown, and are pivotally united at 32-33 respectively to the free ends of the rigid .faces more nearly at right angles to the motor driven shaft 10, and this movement is resisted by the centrifugal force exerted by the weights 34-35 and thus the pitch is equalized. The blades being revolved as they move very rapidly forwardly through the air, as the forward speed increases the resistance on the blades decreases as the balls 3435 will be moved farther apart until the resistance is again equal to the pull of the blades. This statement is based on the assumption that thenumber of revolutions is the same at all times. By this simple means it will be obvious that a simply constructed and efiicient automatic governing'device is produced and by means of which the speed and pitch of the propeller blades is automatically controlled and re lated.

at I claim is:

1. A device of the class described comprising a motor driven shaft, bearings carried by said shaft and spaced from opposite sides of its axial line, propeller blades mounted to swing in said bearings, a rigid arm con nected to each of said propeller blades, a

sleeve slidable upon said motor shaft, links connecting said sleeve with said rigid arms, and wei hts movable with said rigid arms. 2. A evice of the class described comprising a motor driven shaft, a head carried by said shaft, propeller blades mounted to swing relative to said head and at opposite sides of the axial line of the shaft, a rigid arm connected to each of said propeller blades, a sleeve slidable upon said motorv shaft, links connecting said sleeve with said rigid arms, and weights movable with said rigid arms.

3. A device of the class described comprisin a motor driven shaft, bearings carried by said shaft and spaced from opposite sides of its axial line, propeller blades having stub shafts extending through said bearings, a rigid arm connected to each of said stub shafts, a sleeve slidable upon said motor shaft, links connecting said sleeve with said rigid arms, and weights movable with said rigid arms.

4. A device of the class described comprising a motor-driven shaft, propeller blades mounted to swing relative to said shaft and at opposite sides thereof, a rigid arm connected to each of said propeller blades, a sleeve slidable on said shaft, other arms pivoted at one end to said sleeve and at the other ends to said rigid arms, and weights connected to said rigid arms.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

RAY E. KELLOGG. [1,. 8.] 

